Russia-Ukraine updates: 2 US veterans who joined Ukrainian forces missing

The Americans, Andy Tai Ngoc Huynh and Alexander Drueke, are both from Alabama.

Russian President Vladimir Putin's "special military operation" into neighboring Ukraine began on Feb. 24, with Russian forces invading from Belarus, to the north, and Russia, to the east. Ukrainian troops have offered "stiff resistance," according to U.S. officials.

The Russian military has since launched a full-scale ground offensive in eastern Ukraine's disputed Donbas region, capturing the strategic port city of Mariupol and securing a coastal corridor to the Moscow-annexed Crimean Peninsula.

For previous coverage, please click here.

Two Men at War
Two Men at War
A look at the two leaders at the center of the war in Ukraine and how they both rose to power, the difference in their leadership and what led to this moment in history.
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Strike on Kramatorsk train station 'another war crime,' Zelenskyy says

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called Friday's deadly missile attack on the Kramatorsk train station in eastern Ukraine "another war crime of Russia."

"All the world's leading powers have already condemned Russia's attack on Kramatorsk," Zelenskyy said during his latest national address Friday. "We expect a firm, global response to this war crime."

The president called for the missile strike, which killed at least 50, to be among the charges in a war crimes tribunal against Russia.

"All the efforts of the world will be aimed to establish every minute: who did what, who gave orders. Where did the rocket come from, who was carrying it, who gave the order and how the strike was coordinated," Zelenskyy said. "Responsibility is inevitable."


Claims Russia not involved in train attack 'unconvincing': Pentagon

During his daily press briefing, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby was clear that the U.S. believes that Russia was behind the rocket attack on a train station in eastern Ukraine earlier Friday.

"We find unconvincing Russian claims that they weren't involved, particularly when the ministry actually announced it and then when they saw reports of civilian casualties they decided to unannounce it,” Kirby said during Friday afternoon's briefing. "So our assessment is that this was a Russian strike and they used a short-range ballistic missile to conduct it."

Kirby called it a part of the trend by Russia of "brutality" and "carelessness" in not avoiding civilian casualties as they carry out this war in Ukraine.

At least 50 people, including five children, were killed in the rocket attack in Kramatorsk, Ukrainian authorities said.

A Kremlin spokesman denied involvement in the attack, saying Russia's Armed Forces do not use the type of missile used in the strike and that no combat tasks were planned in the region.

-ABC News' Luis Martinez


EU president witnesses mass grave in Bucha

European Union President Ursula Von der Leyen was seen on camera witnessing a mass grave in Bucha, Ukraine, during a visit to the demolished city with the EU's chief diplomat Josep Borrell and Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal.

After touring Bucha, Von der Leyen met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and handed him an envelope with a questionnaire, marking the first step toward membership in the EU. Zelenskyy said he'd have responses in one week.

Global officials have accused Russian troops of committing war crimes after graphic images emerged of civilians lying dead in the streets of Bucha following the withdrawal of Russian forces.

At a press conference Thursday Secretary of State Antony Blinken said, "The sickening images and accounts coming out of Bucha and other parts of Ukraine have only strengthened our collective resolve and unity."


Russia has lost 15-20% of combat power, US says

The Pentagon is "not buying" Russia's denial of responsibility for the Ukraine train station attack that killed at least 50, a senior U.S. defense official said Friday.

"They originally claimed a successful strike and then only retracted it when there were reports of civilian casualties," the official said. "It's our full expectation that this was a Russian strike -- we believe they used a short-range ballistic missile, an SS-21."

As Russian troops retreat from some Ukrainian cities, some of the Russian battalion tactical groups (or BTGs, with roughly 800-1,000 troops each) that have withdrawn back across the Belarusian and Russian borders have been essentially "eradicated" from the fighting in Ukraine, according to the senior defense official.

"There's just nothing left of the BTG except a handful of troops and maybe a small number of vehicles," the official said.

In terms of total losses -- counting troops, tanks, aircraft and missile inventory -- Russia has lost between 15-20% of the combat power it originally had arrayed against Ukraine since the beginning of the invasion, according to the official.

According to the official, some of the withdrawn Russian forces are now making their way to the Russian cities of Belgorod and Valuyki, to the northwest of Donbas. But there are "no indications" that fresh troops are waiting there to join them, the official said.

For now, degraded Russian BTGs are "exploring the option of" consolidating, banding together remaining troops and supplies to form new units, the official said.

Russia is also aiming to recruit upwards of 60,000 new troops, according to the official.

After Russian BTGs rebuild, "the most likely course of action would be for them to move immediately south right into the Donbas," the official said.

The Pentagon now estimates more than 40 Russian BTGs are positioned in or near the Donbas region. The estimate was "more than 30" on Wednesday, meaning up to 10,000 more troops have arrived in recent days.

-ABC News' Matt Seyler


New sanctions target enablers of forced adoptions

The United Kingdom announced a new wave of sanctions on Thursday targeting Russians involved in the barbaric treatment of children in Ukraine.

Maria Lvova-Belova, Russia's Children Rights Commissioner, tops the new list of sanctioned individuals for her alleged involvement in the forced transfer and adoption of Ukrainian children. She has been accused of enabling 2,000 vulnerable children being violently taken from the Luhansk and Donetsk regions and orchestrating a new policy to facilitate their forced adoptions in Russia.

“Today we are targeting the enablers and perpetrators of [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s war who have brought untold suffering to Ukraine, including the forced transfer and adoption of children,” U.K. Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said in a press release.

More than 900 children were injured in Ukraine as a result of the full-scale armed aggression by the Russian Federation, according to the Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s latest report. Over 320 children were killed and more than 580 were injured.

These figures are far from being final, with more information slowly trickling in from places of active hostilities, as well as the temporarily occupied and liberated territories.

The UK's sanction list also includes Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, for his support and endorsement of Putin’s war.

Several members of Putin's political elite, along with four Military Colonels from a unit known to have killed, raped and tortured civilians in the Ukrainian town of Bucha, appear on the list too.

“Putin’s allies continue to choose to turn a blind eye to alleged war crimes and support his bloody offensive,” the U.K. government said. With Putin’s aggression reaching beyond Ukraine as Russian exports fuel conflict across the globe, the official press release read, the new sanctions also hit Myanmar’s military Junta.

The Junta relies heavily on Russian air assets and limiting it will cut Putin off from profiting from sales that fund his war machine, the U.K. said.

-ABC News' Edward Szekeres, Yuriy Zaliznyak, Yulia Drozd and Max Uzol